The Sunday herald., 1887-01-16
DESTROYING ITS OWN PROPERTY
How the Government Bought Houses
and Tore Them DOwn-S3O.OOO An.
nual Rent which Might Have Been
Saved for Five Years

The work on the Library site Is an Instance OF the
o e aHe p m weh Ss
plot OF ground purchased for the Library covers
TWO whole squares. The building Is to be located
by park. 1t Ia apparent, therefore, that the houses
upon the exterior OF the site would not be In the
way OF building the Library. The ground they oc-
cupy VIII be merely the parking surrounding the
building. and naturally the grading and ornament
ing OF this park wonld he The last thing done. II
will take Ave years at least to complete the Library
given.
In spite Of these facts, the rst step In beginning
operations on The Library site was the destruction
OF many Of these houses Already the streets sur
rounding 1t are dlsngured by the ruins OF buildings
Piles OF brick and heaps q debris Of a sorts mark
the street and avenue which intersect the square
This tearing away was inevitable, but no houses
fronting on the streets which bound the two squares
could have been In the least In the way, and to re-
duce them 10 heap OF hideous ruins at the very
start to aic the eyes OF every passer for Ave years
10 come, was as unnecessary as II was foolish.
The esthelic side OF This nasty destruction Is, how
ever. slight matter, compared with the practical.
the architect, and two others are utilized for the
storage OF documents. Now, the Library Commis.
sion point with Just pride to the fact that by thus
using two OF these buildings an annual rent OF 500
for storage room IL saved to the Government II
such an Item as that can effect such reduction OF
the Governments rents, why did not the Commits.
sion reflect little upon the possible usefulness OF
the houses II had purchased before II destroyed
them?
Tue iHut lIlliltust auuDuut VI HuDucy u
annually expended IN renting private buildings,
many OF them not as good as those on the Library
site, for the use OF small bureaus and detached
offces for which there Ia no room In the over.
crowded Department buildings a partial list OF
ofces renting private houses, excluding several too
large and complicated 10 be adyantageously moved,
Will show to what advantage the Government might
have turned It's recently acquired property: Marine
Hospital Service, 81 SOD; Bureau OF Statistics,
Adtutant Generals Onice, siT00; Paymaster Gen.
erals once, $1,000; Commlssary Generals ONCE
s2, 500; Engineer once, $1,000; ONCE Public
Buildings and Grounds, 1900; Potomac River
Improvements, 5000; River and Harbor Work, $3.50;
Ordnance ONCE stable, fl20 Records OF Rebellion
$1,000; Navy Pay Onlce, 5000; photographic ONCE
1900; Museum OF Hygiene, s2,i0O; Commissioner OF
Railroads, 1880; Bureau OF Education, $4,000
Bureau OF Labor, fl,7TG; Pension Agent, f2,00J
Branch Post once, $780, zone square from Library
Topographer's Once. 81 800. Total annual expendl
ture for rents for these Ofices f37,616.
II Ia evident, In view OF these figures, that the
Government could do better with It's property thar
TO turn 1t into bricks and klndiinR wood. II the
properly had been used instead Of destroyed, thu
eight men who were badly Injured by tue fall OF
| wall when tearing down the historic old Carol
| Row would have been saved all that suffering
Even admitting that all the offices on the list given
could not well be moved or could not al be accom-
modated on the Library slte-although no Roo'
| reason ID seen for objectng 10 any-a suiicen
number could have been located there to insure al
annual saving OF at least 100000 II Ia obvious tha
In nye years enough would have been saved TO erec
| a suitable building for these small bureaus.